Winter is officially over as of the spring equinox.
With 25 girls and 15 boys in track this year, Orioles head varsity track coach Robert Seidl shared more on how the upcoming season is looking.
“The upcoming track season looks to be challenging,” he said. “We have a very tough conference with Fall Creek, Bloomer and Regis being top contenders. The girls team should be stronger this year with 25 girls signing up for track. Led by Macy LaGrander and Lula Chwala, the girls should be very competitive. We are looking to find a few more athletes that can help fill our roster so we can be competitive in all of our relays and field events. Our strength will be in the sprints, and sprint relays.  Our field events have a lot of beginners and so it’s unclear what depth we will have, but we should be a more complete team than last year.  Our 4x200 relay went to state last year and they lost one senior to graduation, so we may return with a strong 4x200 again.  Lula Chwala should be good in the hurdles and Macy LaGrander is a strong contender to go to State in the Long Jump.  
As for girls team, Seidl said the goal was to be competitive and challenge Fall Creek.
“Be competitive in the Conference.and challenge Fall Creek, Regis and Bloomer, for the conference title and individual events,” he said. “Hopefully move several through the Regional at Waupaca, and at least one relay and two individuals on to State at the Chilton Sectional.
For the boys team, the focus will be on individual events.
“We may not have enough competitors to vie for a conference title so we will concentrate on our individual events,” he said. “Our boys track team will be led by Carson Hodowanic and Hunter Gadke. Carson will be very competitive in the Sprints (100m and 200 m dashes). Hunter was last year’s conference Champion in the  Pole Vault. We have a number of new athletes trying out this season but we are down a bit from last year with 15 athletes pledging to join. Hopefully we can get a few through to the State meet. Our Regional is east  this year and it looks to be difficult. Our Sectional at Chilton looks even harder (three hour drive).”
The Oriole track team heads to Stout on Friday, March 27 to start the season. Boys start time is 3:00 p.m., with girls start time to be announced